13 Weeks

We are in week 13 and the last day of the first trimester.  Tomorrow will be the start of the Second Trimester!!!  Can't believe we are one third of the way complete.

It's been a busy week, I had two essays and two exams on top of all of my other assignments this week, in addition to working.  I'm continuing to struggle with headaches, and am not finding much relief in anything.  I've read that headaches can be caused from surging hormones, drops in blood sugar, increased blood volume and circulation, stress, lack of sleep, and even dehydration.  So I've been trying really hard to eat consistently, constantly drinking water, and starting back into exercising to decrease my stress.  But fingers crossed, they also say that they should stop during the second trimester.

 I've also been experiencing "round ligament pain."  During pregnancy, the uterus expands from about the size of an apple to the size of a watermelon.  The ligaments that surround and support the uterus and connect it to your groin are collectively called the round ligaments.  These need to stretch and thicken to accommodate that change, and it can hurt!  They're sharp pains in my lower abdomen/hip area when I move to quickly, go from sitting to standing, coughing, or laughing.

Other then that, I'm feeling good.  I've been craving grilled cheese and bean burritos this week (separately, not together).  I also took my belly button ring out this week, it was visibly sticking out from shirts and looked odd, so it had to go...and do people still have their belly button's pierced??  My sense of smell is absolutely ridiculous.  I could smell my professors breath from 20 feet away (that class is in a lecture hall), and I could smell the city paving a road 3 miles away.  Jeremy has had to throw the trash out almost on a daily basis; if he doesn't, I can't even enter the kitchen without dry heaving.

As you can see in the picture, the baby is the size of a peach, has vocal chords and finger prints.  The baby is about 3 inches long and weighs .8 oz.

That sums up the week.  Here are a few pictures from over the weekend from decorating the front yard for Halloween:

    

Pregnancy announcement: 12 weeks

October 6, 2013

It's been FOREVER since I've last blogged!  I'm a little disappointed in myself, as I really want to record as much about this pregnancy as possible.  But with going back to school, working, my service learning (which is sorta like student teaching), friends, house, and life in general, I'm finding it very difficult to get into the habit of blogging 1x/week, which is the goal.  I'm going to try and at least upload a few pics every Sunday.

Our friends Mike and Tanya brought over our FIRST baby gift, how cute is this?!?!  As of right now we're unsure of the gender, so Tanya was thoughtful enough to put both shorts and a skirt.  This was the kicking off point to our big pregnancy announcement on social media.



That night (9/28/13) we attended the ASU vs USC football game.  It was a great game and the Sun Devils pulled through with a BIG WIN!!!  So at the end of the game we had another fan take a picture of us with the onesie.  With a little editing, we posted this for all of our family and friends to see on Facebook and Instagram.  Love how it turned out!

We also had our second doctor's appointment this week (10/3/13).  We got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time, which was VERY EXCITING!!!  Each appointment makes it so much more real.  I was texting with my brother about the appointment and his girlfriend wanted to know if I had cried at either one of our appointments.  As you can see my hormones are going nuts and making me cry at random, sometimes inappropriate, times.  Jeremy never knows what my mood is at any given moment, but is taking it all in stride.

Here is a the first picture of our baby!!!  We got this at our first doctor's appointment at 8 weeks (9/2/13).  The baby is on the right and looks like it's kicking a soccer ball.  In reality that "ball" is the yoke sack which no longer exists (that's what feeds the baby in the early days) and the baby is actually standing on it's head!





Last but not least here is the famous chalk board picture.  I'll be doing one of these once a week and updating how I'm feeling.  The first 10 weeks were pretty rough, but from what I've heard, my morning sickness wasn't that bad.  The best way I've come up with to describe it is: it feels just like being extremely hung over.... Every. Single. Day.  At some point, not necessarily in the morning, I felt very nauseous and extremely tired.  I learned to change my eating habits, eating small meals often, and that seemed to keep the nausea at bay.  Once I got to 11 weeks I was finally feeling like the morning sickness was starting to subside, but then I started to get headaches, almost every single day.  A Facebook friend said she had headaches every day when she was pregnant with her daughter, but never had one with her son.  Which I found very interesting, as I've felt like this little one is a boy from very early on.

I've been very conscience of my water intake, which has minimally helped with the headaches.  I think once I started to feel better and the nausea went away, maybe I wasn't eating or drinking as much/as often.  So I'm trying to get back to that.

My little belly "popped" at 11 weeks.  NONE of my pants or shorts are fitting at all!  I'm currently using hair ties and rubber bands, along with a belly band that I purchased at Target to keep my pants up.  I've gone maternity clothes shopping twice.  Once with Jeremy and the place I ended up having the most luck was a baby re-sale store here in Gilbert.  The mall was a joke, and looking online has proved to be difficult as well.  I'm having trouble finding petite maternity clothes as most maternity stores don't carry them and all of the pants are too big and too long.  So for now, I'm sticking to maxi skirts and dresses, who can complain about that?!

We have our next appointment in 4 weeks, then in 6 weeks (at the 18 week mark) we get to have another ultrasound.  We have invited both my parents and Jeremy's parents to this appointment so they can see the baby for the first time.  At that time, only Jeremy will be finding out the gender of the baby.  I have never wanted to find out the gender in advance.  I grew up with both of my parents not knowing what my brother or I was until we were born, so I thought that was the "normal" thing to do.  But Jeremy really wants to find out.  I've heard from others that it allows the dad's to be more connected with the baby if they know the gender.  He's great at keeping secrets, so I'm not nervous about that.  We'll see how long I last.  That's it for now, see you all in a week! 

We're Pregnant!!!

We could not be more happy to announce that we are pregnant!!!  Third time was the charm I guess.

My monthly "friend" was supposed to arrive Friday night and never showed...  So, Saturday afternoon, when Jeremy got home from work, we went down to Walgreen's and bought a pregnancy test.

 I read the box, opened up and read the instructions all before we even pulled into the garage.  I kid you not, before I was done peeing (sorry for the visual) the test appeared positive.  I yell out screaming from the bathroom, "it's positive, it's positive!"  Jeremy claimed I was reading it wrong and asked to look at the directions.  Read them over thoroughly, set the timer for the called for 2 minute wait time, and then re-visited the results.  Of course they were exactly the same, but he wanted to really make sure we were following the directions to a T.

I will be calling my OB/GYN on Monday to schedule my first appointment, which I don't think will be for another few weeks.  From what I've read they want to see you around the 8 week mark.  We are 4 weeks and 6 days along, which is CRAZY to think!!  Almost 5 weeks along, my mind is still blown.

I have already updated my account on thebump.com and I'm really pleased with all the info I've already received from this website.  I've also downloaded a new app.  I was previously using the app called My Days

to track my menstrual and ovulation cycles, but I"m  now using the What to expect Pregnancy app (which is free)

on my iPhone.  It's from the same creators as the book What To Expect When Your Expecting and has a boatload of information.  I'm almost a little overwhelmed and at the moment I'm good with not buying any pregnancy books.  Although, I was thinking of looking into a recipe book for eating organic/whole foods during the pregnancy.  We are already eating this way nearly all the time, but I would like some different recipes to change things up.

Now, for a little about the baby.  Of course I have already calculated the due date (well, the app actually did the calculations) and we are due April 2014 which I am very excited about.  Originally I thought I was due in May and we have a MILLION birthdays already in May and my BFF is getting married in May and the though was completely overwhelming.  But once I switched apps and read a little more into figuring out the due date I was relieved to see April as the new month.

The baby is the size of an orange seed right now, so tiny!  I'm still trying to wrap my head around all of this.  I did the Chinese Calendar on thebump.com and it claims it's going to be a boy, which Jeremy was very happy about.

As for me, I'm a little tired.  My boobs are super sore, and every time I turn around I'm headed back to the bathroom with a full bladder.  The site says the baby is forming right on top of my bladder, putting added pressure on it and decreasing the capacity.  But this should subside in the coming weeks.

I'm so excited to see what I look like with a belly, to hear the heatbeat, see the first picture, and to tell all of our friends and family.  We are going to wait until after my first doctor's appointment to tell our parents, then the siblings and close friends will follow.  I will not be publishing anything about the pregnancy/baby on any social media until after the first trimester.

And with all that being said, I start back to school next Monday!  Oh, and Breaking Bad starts back up tonight, so we're super excited about that too.

To test, or not to test; that is the question.

We had such a fun, long weekend celebrating the 4th of July with our close friends at their parents cabin in Pie Town, NM.  At one time, there were 15 of us at the cabin together; and by Sunday, 6 of us were left to say goodbye to the Leonard's.

We all arrived late Wednesday night, nearly midnight, with a magnificent thunder and lightening storm greeting us, followed by a refreshing rain.  Coming from record heat 115 degrees in Gilbert, AZ, the rain was a nice welcome.

I knew what the weekend would consist of: riding ATV's, hiking, mountain biking, roasting marshmallows, playing board games, putting together puzzles, and eating...endless eating.  With our group of friends I knew that there would also be some drinking going on and I was anxious prior to our departure to know if I was pregnant or not.  So, the big question loomed at the beginning of the week...to test, or not to test.

There is an OBGYN office near our home that advertises free pregnancy tests with no appointment needed.  I decided since I wouldn't be wasting money buying my own EPT (early pregnancy test), and really wanted to know prior to our trip, that I would go ahead and take the pregnancy test.

Driving to their office, my heart raced.  I told myself over and over again, "expect a negative, that way if it does come out negative you won't be disappointed."  I walked into their office and a nurse almost immediately lead me back to their restroom and handed me the clear little cup to fill, instructing me to return to the waiting room and they'd have the results in a few minutes.  Btw, I drank nearly a GALLON of water throughout the morning to prep, so I nearly yanked that cup out of her hand!

I anxiously waited for the nurse, trying to busy myself with my iPhone...Facebook/Instagram/Candy crush (don't EVEN think about starting to play that game, it's terribly addictive!)  And no more then two minutes later, the nurse came through those doors with a smile on her face and asked me back to treatment room.  Telling myself, "she's just being polite and smiling, don't look into it any more then that!"  I entered the room, and as I sat on the table she asked if I had missed my period yet.  "No," I confessed.  "It's supposed to come this weekend, but I thought I'd try and see if anything showed up."  With a half smile, she reported that the test was negative, and if I did miss my period to come back and they'd test me again.

I raced out of that office as fast as I possibly could without making eye contact with anyone.  Embarrassed I had even thought anything would come up early.  I got into my car, shed a few tears of disappointment, and thought to myself, there are always false negatives, and there could still be a possibility.

So, we packed for our trip.  Bringing beers for my husband, and bottles of water for me.  I drank a few drinks while I was there, but still unsure I kept the drinking to a minimum.

Of course I have two ovulation tracker apps on my iPhone, one saying that I was supposed to get my period the 6th, one saying I was supposed to get it the 8th.  Well, the 6th came and went, then the 7th, and this morning my husband asked me if he wanted me to have him go buy a test.  I replied that if I didn't get it today, we'd buy one tomorrow.

The absolute worst is the waiting.  I feel like today has been the longest day of my life.  And at 6:30 this evening, it finally came.  No tears this time though.  Just a better understanding of what I want next month to be like.

I am a very open person, and as soon as we started trying to conceive, I basically let everyone know: his family, my family, our close friends.  It just wasn't something I wanted to hide.  This is a very exciting time for us, and a very big deal, and I just couldn't imagine keeping that from people close to us.  I talked with a close friend of mine this past week and told her about going to take the pregnancy test prior to missing my period, and she completely advised me against doing it again.  Explaining that even her sister took nearly a year to conceive, and that I was just putting more pressure on myself.

That's the thing though, I don't feel pressure.  I would feel more pressure to keep this a secret then the other way around.  But I will admit, next month I will not even think of testing unless I miss my period.  The waiting game after ovulating and awaiting my period is absolutely excruciating though!  The thing I would like to work on this next month though, is my emotions.  I would like to keep them a little more under control.  Letting my mind wander a little less and keeping my self more busy to not think about it.

I also would like to try some diet changes and look a little more into a fertility diet.  So the next few posts will consist of incorporating the diet into our lifestyle, as well as some projects I have tackled the past few weeks to keep myself busy.  Here's a little teaser of what's to come:

Celebrating One Fabulous Year!

Jeremy and I had the extreme pleasure of having our wonderful friend Heather Ratliff take some pictures for us for our one year anniversary.  We took a short ride, right around the corner from our home, to the old Potato Barn and the corn field just adjacent to it.  The weather was amazing, not quite 100 degrees yet in this extreme heat summer of Arizona, with a slight wind; making the balloon pictures a little more difficult then expected.  But with a little patience, Heather got some amazing shots.  

We have had quite an amazing year, and I can't believe we're already celebrating this anniversary.  We attended some amazing weddings, celebrated our first Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Valentine's Day as Husband and Wife, and traveled to Australia for our belated Honeymoon.  

We will be returning to our wedding location during the 4th of July weekend to officially celebrate our anniversary at Hidden Meadow Ranch.  If you haven't heard of this amazing place, please take a second to check them out, and maybe even plan a vacation there Hidden Meadow Ranch!

For our anniversary gift, we have finally purchased our wedding album from Shutterfly as our "paper" gift.  It was far less expensive then ordering it from our photographer, who did an AMAZING job on not only our wedding photos, but our engagement pictures as well.  You can view our wedding album here. 

Wedding Album

Click here to view this photo book larger

Shutterfly allows you to customize your photo book just the way you want.

Statistics

What's the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word 'Statistics?'  Most would say, "that awful class I had to take in college that NO one understood."  Some would refer to sports: ERA's,  free throw percentages, saves (sorry for those of you that have no idea what any of these sports things are). Some statistics you want higher, others are definitely better lower.

The statistic in my case: women over 30 only have a 20% chance of getting pregnant each month. Did you read that correctly?! YES! Only 20%. (Don't tell all those teenage girls rolling around in the back seats of their boyfriends cars!)

I was pretty disappointed this evening finding out that we are not in the positive range of that statistic. Emotions are definitely still raw at this point.  Trying hard to ignore those feelings of failure. It is difficult though. What's the outcome of trying something and not succeeding? Failure. Alright, let's get the thesaurus out and look up some different phrases for that, failure sounds WAY too harsh. To be defeated? No way, I definitely don't want to feel that way. Go down swinging? Would tie nicely into the baseball reference above. Miss the boat?  Yes, we have missed the boat this month; but that doesn't mean there won't be another boat next month. 

Alright, well I feel a little better now. I knew the chance was slim, and I wasn't feeling any of the symptoms that would lead to a positive test: extreme fatigue, very sore chest, bloating.  But I did go out to happy hour tonight and, without a doubt, i am disappointed that I didn't share that bottle of wine with the girls. 

On a positive note, ... ... I know I had something to write here... ... I can have a drink at the pool with the girls this weekend?  Ugh, how utterly depressing the only positive outcome I can think of involves alcohol.  "Completely appropriate," Jeremy would say. Who, by the way, has been very supportive these last few days, understanding something was a little off with me, and reassuring me that we have plenty of time, "what's the rush, it's only been one month, remember?"

Next weekend we celebrate our one year anniversary. I shared Mother's Day with my birthday, and now we're sharing Father's Day with our anniversary. Funny how that worked out, huh?  We'll be driving down to Sierra Vista next Fri to visit my parents, and then returning Sunday to see Jeremy's parents. We will officially celebrate our anniversary a little later this month in Greer, I'm excited to get out of this heat! Record temps today for this time of year, with extreme heat warnings.  I'm in the process of defrosting the top of our wedding cake to traditionally eat on our anniversary, not quite sure if that will work out or not.  I have also completed our wedding album for our "paper" anniversary gift (I'm still working on our honeymoon album) and can't wait to get those!  

Trying to keep my head up.